There have been countless forgeries over the decades, many of which are probally not know. However there have been some cases that the entire poplulation has known about. There have been many daring people who have fordged many things such as Shakespear plays, Lincoln's love letters, and diaries of famous crimals.
William Henry Ireland was off to a good start. He had been able to pass off fragments of the scripts of Hamlet and King Lear as Shakespear. With this success he began to get cocky. he announced that he discoered a completely unknow Shakespear drama called Vortigern. He soon presented this to a renouned theater producer who was planning on producing it on Drury Lane. This producer was not fooled however and Ireland was caught red handed. Another famous case was the diary of Jack the Ripper. In 1992, Mike Barrett announced he aquired Jack the Ripper's diary while renovating a deceased friend's house. Barrett claimed he know real identity of the author. When forgery expert Kenneth Rendell analyzed the diary, he he noticed the handwriting. It seemed too modern to be Victorianand although it was written in a genuine Victorian scrapbook, 20 pages at the front end had been torn out, as if it was a previously used diary. The diary was declared a fake however was still published, but told of the forgery on the dust jacket.
Famous Forgeries
There have been countless forgeries over the decades, many of which are probally not know. However there have been some cases that the entire poplulation has known about. There have been many daring people who have fordged many things such as Shakespear plays, Lincoln's love letters, and diaries of famous crimals.
William Henry Ireland was off to a good start. He had been able to pass off fragments of the scripts of Hamlet and King Lear as Shakespear. With this success he began to get cocky. he announced that he discoered a completely unknow Shakespear drama called Vortigern. He soon presented this to a renouned theater producer who was planning on producing it on Drury Lane. This producer was not fooled however and Ireland was caught red handed.
Another famous case was the diary of Jack the Ripper. In 1992, Mike Barrett announced he aquired Jack the Ripper's diary while renovating a deceased friend's house. Barrett claimed he know real identity of the author. When forgery expert Kenneth Rendell analyzed the diary, he he noticed the handwriting. It seemed too modern to be Victorianand although it was written in a genuine Victorian scrapbook, 20 pages at the front end had been torn out, as if it was a previously used diary. The diary was declared a fake however was still published, but told of the forgery on the dust jacket.